Agenda item

Report of the Superintendent of Epping Forest.

Members were informed that since 2005 direct grant payments from the European Union (EU) for the area of agricultural land under management, including grasslands available for grazing or fodder, had been made through the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) administered by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). These area payments had been applied for and successfully claimed annually since 2005 for the eligible land within Burnham Beeches & Stoke Common, City Commons, and Epping Forest and its Buffer Land Estate.

Members noted that following an extensive review by the EU and the agriculture ministers of its Member states over the last two years the SPS has been replaced by the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS). The eligibility criteria and the cross-compliance rules, which ensure good environmental management, remain very similar to those of the SPS. The RPA had modified how the applications were made for BPS compared to SPS. As a result it would be operationally appropriate for the Superintendents for these Open Spaces divisions to be able to submit the applications in lieu of the Director.

In response to a query, Officers informed Members that the BPS payment rates were expected to be about 10% lower than SPS, although the exact reduction awaits confirmation from the RPA depending upon the size of the total UK claim to the EU. However, a revision of the area of land on which the claim can be made has resulted in City Commons and Epping Forest proposing to claim a greater hectarage than in 2014. It was anticipated that the grant claimed would be in the range £190,000- 210,000 but this would also be dependent on exchange rates

RESOLVED – that the following be approved:

·(an) application(s) for grant under the new Basic Payment Scheme (BPS);

· the sale of any excess SPS entitlements no longer valid under BPS, the

income (between £1,000 - £4,000) from which would go towards grazing and

grassland management;

· the delegation of the powers of authorisation from the Director to the

Superintendents of the relevant Divisions to submit the claim applications.